Bangladeshi ambassador: China key player in global COVID-19 battle

Bangladeshi Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman (Photo provided by Embassy of Bangladesh in Beijing)

BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhuanet) -- China has been a key player in global fight against COVID-19, said Bangladeshi Ambassador to China Mahbub Uz Zaman in a recent written interview with Xinhuanet.

The ambassador said Bangladesh and China reciprocated donations in medical supplies, demonstrating a strong will to stand by each other at this grave moment of humanitarian crises.

Bangladesh requires China's technological expertise and experience in the testing and contact tracing, isolation and disinfection of contacts, early detection of new infection and clinical and pathological intervention mechanism, he added.

The ambassador reiterated the importance of international cooperation, saying, "We see the COVID-19 pandemic as a global threat to mankind and the global community should collaborate and cooperate together in this fight to eradicate the novel coronavirus."

He also appealed to the international community to look at global efforts against COVID-19 from a humanitarian perspective.

"Unless every single country in the world is freed from the virus, we strongly believe that no country is anymore safer in the near future," he said.

Noting that 2020 marks the year to finish building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the ambassador praised China's remarkable achievements in poverty alleviation.

In modern history, China has demonstrated the largest poverty eradication schemes and lifted a whole nation into the miraculous scientific and economic progress within a very short time frame, he said.

From 2013 to 2019, China lifted more than 93 million rural people out of poverty through precision measures, pairing-up aid, fostering industries such as produce processing and tourism, and relocating those in barren and remote mountainous areas to more habitable places.

The ambassador highlighted China's achievements, saying "the best practices and examples of poverty eradication in China can be replicated in other parts of the world."

On bilateral ties, the ambassador said, Bangladesh and China have maintained friendly and warm bilateral relations in recent years.

China has emerged as a major partner of Bangladesh in trade, investment and development, said the ambassador.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Bangladesh and China.

He called for further tapping the potentials in bilateral cooperation.

The ambassador expects both countries to enhance cooperation in the areas of digital infrastructure, economy and governance in order to unlock the potentials in modernizing key economic and strategic sectors.